Page 3 of #Resort Romance
Years ago, she always had the cabin next door—he was in fourteen, she was in sixteen. It would be a bizarre coincidence if that was still the case.
“Sixteen,” she said, smiling. “That was always our cabin, so when I made the reservation, I made sure I asked for it. What about you?”
“Um…our usual too. Fourteen. Care to walk with me?” Holding out his arm to her, he caught that shy smile again. Kelsey took a moment to put her phone and the map in her purse before hooking her arm with his and reaching for her suitcase with her free hand.
“Lead the way!”
In any other situation, running into Jayce Nash would have been a nightmare.
But today? It literally saved her sanity.
They strolled along like they had all day to get where they were going, and the entire time, they talked about memories they’d shared here at the resort.
“Remember the volleyball tournaments?”
“Remember the time we instigated a s’mores eating contest?”
“What about all the times we used the rope swing to get into the lake?”
“Or how many times we tipped our canoes over?”
It felt good to laugh. Life had been…well…there hadn’t been anything to laugh about lately, so this was a definite treat. Her therapist had been encouraging her to go out and find her joy.
But it looked like maybe her joy finally found her.
“Hopefully they got new canoes since then,” Jayce was saying as they veered left on the path toward the cabins. “There’s no way they couldn’t, right?”
“I don’t know,” she teased. “I mean…look around. Everything else seems exactly the same.” Then she groaned.
“What? What are you thinking of?”
“The beds were so uncomfortable! The mattresses were so thin it was almost more comfortable to sleep on the floor!”
Beside her, he laughed. “Damn, I had forgotten about that. I typically got the sleeper sofa—which I used to love—but I have a feeling my thirty-year-old body isn’t going to sleep quite as soundly on it.”
“Now, now…let’s try to be optimistic,” she reasoned. “Maybe the exterior of everything has been a bit neglected, but perhaps they paid some attention to the interior.”
He playfully nudged her shoulder. “If that were the case, would they be closing?”
“Personally, I don’t think one has anything to do with the other. Just the scope of updating this place is probably more than they can handle. I’m sure there are developers just dying to get their hands on this property and turn it into vacation homes that will go for a million bucks each. Bloodsuckers.”
“Okay, wow,” he said with amusement. “That sounds like a stretch. Why wouldn’t some other big resort company buy the place and do all the upgrades? The place has good bones, but just needs a major rehab.”
“Because no one seems to do that sort of thing anymore. I’ve seen more than my share of places get bulldozed in favor of something new and shiny—typically in the form of luxury homes or condos. I’m so over it.”
They walked in companionable silence as they passed the first cabin.
“So, what do you do for a living now?” he asked.
Ugh…so not the topic she wanted to discuss.
“I’m a social worker,” she told him. “And you?”
“An electrical engineer. I have a feeling I’m going to be looking at multiple infractions while I’m here.” Shaking his head, he chuckled. “I have a tendency to inspect things when I’m supposed to be relaxing.”
That made her smile. “It’s good to be passionate about your work. It shows you care.”
“Or…I just like telling people they’re wrong and how they need to fix things. At least, that’s what my family is always telling me.”
